good morning from wmar abc 2 in baltimore maryland's pioneer television station since 1947. you're watching the station that works for you, now, good morning maryland. >> the winds are picking up and the rain continues to fall. but this is only the beginning of super storm sandy. we are tracking it for you all morning long. >> as we ride out the hurricane together, abc2 news is working for you. it's going to be a storm like no other storm we have seen whether you are dealing with power outages or flash flooding we have all the information you need to know to keep you and your family safe so stay with us this morning. team coverage starts right now. and we are on a half-hour early for you this morning because of hurricane sandy. thanks for joining us i am megan pringle. >> i am charley crowson. storm has been tracked for a number of days but lynette and wyatt and mike doing all they

can to keep you ahead of the storm a live shout on the outer banks of north carolina kill devil hill has been a hot spot. number of reports out of there. you see the waves rolling in. >> because of that we have had evacuations all up and down the east coast. most people listening to them not everybody is. so we have a lot to cover this morning. let's get to the weather. >> all right. lynette. >> so we are tracking sandy and we are looking at it as a hurricane. the winds sustained at about 75 miles an hour. it's moving to the north at 12 miles per hour and picked up forward momentum and the pressure dropped one millibar so we are at 950 instead of 951. that means that it's trying to strengthen a little bit and gather more energy. being see it's 300 around 300 miles southeast of ocean city, maryland. as we check out what's going on for today and how this moves towards us, well, we will continue to get this rain moving in here across the area. and on the backside of this system, look at the snow moving

into west virginia. we are going to be seeing blizzard conditions across the area but heavier rain across the area for today and the winds will begin to pick up. i will talk more about that and breakdown the time that is we will see the windiest conditions. let's check the abc2 timesaver traffic with lauren cook. >> reporter: good morning. governor o'malley is urging everyone to stay off the roads. we are dealing with a lot of flooding in ocean city. route 50 is now closed along the eastbound lanes from golf course road to philadelphia avenue. here's a live look at route 50. you will notice the camera is shaking due to the heavy winds. there's a wind advisory in effect for those traveling across the bay bridge. if you are heading that way, you want to be extra careful if the gusts exceed 55 miles per hour, the bridge will be shut down. a look closer to baltimore moving right along but you will want to prepare yourself for slick conditions and don't travel today if you don't have to. that's a look at your traffic. now over to you. you are waking up, the

lights are on and tv is working. >> don't be fooled. bge is preparing for massive outages as sandy makes its wayto maryland and they are prepared. >> linda so is live at bwi and bge brought in thousands of out of state workers to get ahead of the storm correct? >> reporter: yes, and this is where they will be reporting for work in just a few hours. later this morning, this is bge's staging area by the airport on dorsey road. you can see the massive amounts of utility trucks that will be hitting the road once this storm starts to impact the area. crews from ten states as far as texas are here to help with the response to hurricane sandy. bge is preparing for massive outages as sandy makes her way to the area. strong winds and heavy rain are expected to bring down lots of trees and power lines and leave thousands in the dark. crews from out of state started arriving this weekend to get ready for the massive response

from florida, georgia, oklahoma, louisiana mississippi and five other states. bge says altogether they have 3,000 people maned and ready to go one the area starts to feel the effects of the storm. crews will work long shifts to remove trees and repair power lines when it is safe to do so. and remember, if you do see damage especially downed power lines, be sure to call bge. >> if there is standing water and you are concerned about issues with the electrical equipment, do not go into the standing water. stay away and give us a call and we will send somebody out to help. >> we do 16-hour days and it's nonstop until the work is done. but it's sometimes in conditions like this, it gets pretty tough on you. >> reporter: we arrived at the staging area about an hour and a half ago. we have felt the winds pick up, the rain coming down a bill harder. keep in mind when sandy hits the area and we really begin to see the downed trees and power

lines, utility crews won't be safe if the wind are blowing too hard for them to lift up those buckets for utility workers to work. so they say they will hit the road as soon as it is safe to do so. also, one thing to know, we remember when we were here a couple months ago in june for that bge brought in a lot of out of state crews because there was people without power for days and weeks. one big difference here, that storm in june caught a lot of people off guard so crews out of state crews were not brought in until after the storm hit. the big difference here is we have heard all the warnings about sandy and its devastating effects on the area. those crews are here and ready to go as soon as the storm hits. live in bwi, linda so, abc2 news. >> you can see from the live shot the big issue right now is the rain. the storm is bringing a lot of it. and that's one of the biggest concerns for a lot of you is flooding. >> you remember what happened

in 2003. fells point hurricane ies bill hit back then and this morning the places piling up on sandbags to keep the water away and that's where we find sherrie johnson in felt point this -- fells point where the rain is falling on you. >> reporter: yes the rain is coming down pretty steadily for a couple hours here now. you know what, folks here are getting prepared. they are taking precautions. they are loading up on sand which is is a really good idea. we are right here at the water. so, you know, fells point is no stranger to flooding. they have experienced problems with other storms and on friday and saturday, many people loaded up on sandbags to protect homes and businesses from flooding. the city dumped a pile of sandbags here at broadway pier. city workers gave away 6 bags per person and also checked identification to keep track of the bags. mayor stephanie rawlings-blake says she wants people to be ready because of what this magnitude of this storm. so far, there are about 3

sandbag centers that are open. and like i said, you know, there's been a steady rain all morning long and we have seen a number of police officers driving through just making sure people are off the streets andkeeping people safe. we will be out here throughout the morning and give you an update whatever comes. reporting live in fells point, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >> your child is going to wake up because there's no school and we have the closings scrolling at the bottom of the screen soyou can check it out to be sure. there's 130 school closings or delays and if you want a complete list of the closings head to our website it's posted on abc2news.com. also on this monday, no trading on the stock market because of hurricane sandy. initially the new york stock exchange said it would only close the physical trading floor and they would rely on electronic trading. building shut down because of evacuations. nasdaq will cancel trading today. the president visited the

federal emergency management agency yesterday and was briefed on hurricane sandy. those workers are among only a handful who are going to be at work today. federal offices in washington, d.c. have been closed. emergency employees are expected to report to their work sites unless told otherwise. it's 4:08. we join you 30 minutes early on good morning maryland keeping you ahead of sandy. the storm is churning off the coast of virginia right now and that is live look at virginia beach. >> it's ghosttown because there are mandatory evacuations in the coastal communities. you are urged to leave if you are living anywhere near there vacationing there which is what many people have done. >> our coverage continues for you on this monday morning ahead of the storm. the real force of it is still hours away but we will keep you abreast of what's going on. lynette is monitoring the forecast and james is here with us helping out where help is need and is live outside this morning. >> reporter: thanks a lot. and really, just in the past five minutes, i noticed the wind starting to pick up. it's been steady rain and so

far we have gotten a third of an inch away of rain up to a half inch at times. streets are wet of course and yesterday, as i was going around, i noticed people getting ready and yes, filling up with gas. the gas station behind me on york road pretty empty rye now but it was packed yesterday and it's good idea to fill up the tanks in case the power goes out. maybe go to the atm machines and get cash just in case. now, right now, the roads are slick not seeing much ponding on the roadways but there's a little bit. on the eastern shore we have a flood' advisory until 6:15 for minor flooding and poor drainage areas where the brunt is going to be through the day today. it will pick up slowly throughout the day as we saw the wind start to pick up out here too. now it's called down a little bit. wind gusts i checked earlier in the weather center about 50 miles an hour along the coast. here in town, and in the county, about 30 miles per hour

and again that will pick up more rapidly later on this afternoon. that's it from out here. back to you guys. >> thanks james we will check in in a bit. we want to remind you we are around the clockworking for you with this storm. so even when we are not on the air and we will be on a lot we will track sandy so head to abc2news.com/hurricane and you can find interactive radar, hurricane stacy tips and information on clogs and delays and you can down load the storm shield mobile app. all that on abc2news.com/hurricane. it's 10 minutes after the hour and sandy spent the weekend making her presence felt along the east coast. >> so, we are going to take you to areas where conditions are deteriorating and those living in the storm's path are being urged to seek higher ground. >> evacuations in the low lying areas of maryland. we will go to ocean city where the waves are battering the boardwalk. >> all right. and sandy is off the coast of virginia and north carolina bringing some heavy ran across the eastern shore this morning.

i will tell you how much rain belle receive when it's all -- rain we will receive when it's all said and done. >> reporter: a route of -- a portion of route 50 is shut down. how the storm will affect your commute coming up on good morning maryland.

thanks for joining us it's 4:136789 we are on the air early for you -- 4:13. we are on the air early because of horn cane sandy. officials are taking action as hurricane sandy approaches the state. governor o'malley is calling it a killer storm. he is expected to give the next update at 10 in the morning. last night, he appeared with senator ben cardin in rifter hetown and they let maryland --

reisterstown and they left maryland know the measures the state and country is taking to keep everyone safe. >> the national partners are here to help the people of maryland. and we stand ready to do everything we need to do to make sure the federal government is a full partner in helping the people of maryland in preparation when the storms here and the aftermath. >> as the storm moves in, i think you will see all of lower ocean city under water. this is going to be a waves of 7 to 8 foot height. we have not seen that since back in 1985 with hurricane gloria. >> between the huge rains and all the waves they are seeing in that area, the strong winds no surprise people are leaving because they are being evacuated. officials have orders all around downtown area residents saying they need to leave. governor o'malley says there are about 60 state troopers in ocean city and they are managing the evacuation and assist in emergency response. people along the beaches in delaware are bracing for the hurricane. northbound tolls in delaware

were suspended yesterday to speed up the evacuation process. >> christian schaver is in re-- schaeffer isin rehoaght hob it -- rehobeth babying. >> reporter: the -- >> reporter: the beach covers the area all the way back to the san do you know area that's protected by buildings sometimes the wind doesn't feel as strong. it is. out here on the boardwalk there's nothing to block the gale force winds and sandy is not supposed to arrive until this time monday night. many of the businesses along and near the boardwalk here have been boarded up. >> we did it last year for irene. >> reporter: yep. >> and we decided to board it up then and fortunately there was no damage. >> reporter: evacuation orders from the delaware governor is in effect. the time to get ready for sandy is about over. >> it could last several days.

and we could be without power for a while. we hope to see a minimum of property damage but there could be a bunch. >> that was christian schaeffer reporting. emergency management senters arein full fling all over. the northern new jersey they are preparing for the worst from the hurricane. the mayor stressed in one town that traffic would be be banned from city road and that was starting around 2 this afternoon. the mandatory evacuations from low lying areas will start around 7:00 this morning. the watters along the shore have a slight churn even with sandy hundreds of miles away. many with boats are in a lot of trouble and say they are tying them down double triple the amount of rope they normally use. new jersey is under a state of emergency and have is been in the process of shutting down the trains and buss in that area. >> sand -- buses. >> the area. sandy has turned one ship into a nightmare. the ship ran into high seas as

it got close to miami during the weekend. passengers say at one point the ship tilted so far to the right furniture moved across some of the cabins. passengers were told to stay in the cabins and they would be safe. disney is offering passengers a discount on a future cruise. in virginia some customers are out of power as the state prepares to deal with the hurricane n virginia beach, the slow -- in virginia beach, it's slow going for those on the roads. state officials are urging those who live there to move out as quickly as possible. the storm could linger around for several days although rain bands have hit central virginia and the governor there says the biggest problem is the downed trees and power lines and tidal flooding. >> 17 minutes after the hour. let's go over to lynette charles who has been monitoring the storm for a number of days. where are we right now as far as sandy's path. >> it's off the coast of virginia and also north carolina. but with that bringing lots of rain in across the area

already. so we do have flood watches and warnings up. we can see the dark green around frederick county and we have a flood warning and that is for the rivers across the area. so this is going to linger right through tuesday. so, i am going to he show you totals of the rain in a second. but we also are dealing with the coastal flood warnings. so the bay is really going to get it especially as we go into tomorrow. we are talking about landfall in the next 24 hours or so. and we will see that high tide coming across the area. so that's why tomorrow will be the worst of it. but today along the eastern shore, still going to be dealing with some flooding concerns. now this is what we are projected in terms of rainfall. 6 to 8 inches of rain in the red shading. that's basically everywhere across the area. we are looking at some flooding some windy conditions and also we are going to be dealing with some snow on the backside of this system. i will show you that later. that won't be affecting us too much unless you are traveling off towards the west and western maryland and also in

west virginia the higher elevation there is. but here's the track once again. and we can see that line right down the middle there that looks like it will be making landfall in southern new jersey as we go through tomorrow morning. now, we do have some high wind warnings across the area. look at this look at all the yellowish color where the high wind warnings are. and these winds are going to start to pick up as we go through the rest of today. we do have sustained wind now at about 15 to 20 miles oop hour and we will see gusts as we go throughout the day. i will time that out as we go through the rest of the morning. but we will start to see and feel those tropical storm force winds as we go into late tonight and tomorrow and even beyond that. i will talk more about that coming up but right now let's check the traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this storm has shut down all mta service everything has been suspended until further notice. and governor o'malley is urging everyone to stay off the road. in ocean city we are dealing with a lot of flooding. route 50 will be shut down along the eastbound lanes

between golf course road and philadelphia avenue and here's a live look at the ocean city draw bridge. heavy winds in the area causing this camera to shake. route 90 is open and there's a wind advisory in effect fored bay bridge. if gust exceed 55 miles per hour that, will shut down. we will keep you posted. and this is what baltimore national pike beltway the roads in baltimore will be slick so prepare for those conditions. and again, take the governor's advice and avoid the roads if possible. it doesn't seem that bad right now but conditions will really change and it's going to get ugly out there. megan and charley. hurricane sandy is impacting a number of flights coming in and out of bwi. >> abc2 news linda so is live at bwi tracking the latest for us. any cancellations or delays right now? >> reporter: i just checked the website and the airport will be running on a very limited basis today. we are right by the airport here at the end of the parking lot. it's one of the main runways

which would usually be busy but not today because of sandy's impending arrival. i checked the boards for departures and arrivals and there are more than 200 flights canceled or delayed and chances are it will go up as the day wears on and sandy hits the area. the best bet if you have a flight out of bwi is to expect and check the status of the flight before coming to the airport. the airport itself is still open but as sandy approaches and becomes stronger flights could be delayed or canceled tomorrow and wednesday. so far there are only a handful of flights operating on schedule but again that could change as the morning wears on. now, we have learned that most carriers will continue to monitor the situation and make a decision on flights that are scheduled for later in the week. again, it depends on how hard and strong this storm hits the east coast. and it's not only cancellations and delays here at bwi, but also there are hundreds of others in the immediate area

like dulles and reagan so make sure to call the airport first to check on the flight of the status of the flight before going to the airport. live at bwi, linda so, abc2 news. sandy is not just disrupting air travel but ground trum. >> the -- trouble. >> the decision dc made on their lines. and the rain is coming down. wind is picking up. i am james wheeling coming up i will talk about the current conditions and sandy. >> you heard me talk about it and you need to go to the website and down load our app because storm shield will keep you ahead of the storm and give you alerts n baltimore we are looking an alert for coasta flood warnings and a flood watch and advisory. don't go anywhere, good morning maryland will be right back. >> and that is live picture from fells point. you can see the mound of sand people all weekend taking advantage of that and getting

sandbags for their homes in case there's flooding. we will be right back.

thanks for joining thus morning. we are on early today and that's because of hurricane sandy. something we havebeen tracking for days now. and now it's become a serious storych the rain has picked up, the big question is how much and for how long. so right now we will go out live to meteorologist james wheelen we don't have him but he is standing by live for us in the meantime, you might be wondering can i go anywhere and how bad are the roads and is anything shut down and a big warning from officials this morning be weary of standing water. you want to be careful of that as the storm moves n let's go over to lauren cook -- moves in. let's go over to lauren cook. >> reporter: governor o'malley is urging everyone to stay off the roads. it's going to be dangerous and pretty rainy right now in baltimore. but conditions are going to worsen and it's important to remember not to drive through

standing water. it may be deeper than it appears. we are dealing with flooding in ocean city route 50 completely shut down hudheading into -- heading into ocean city. you will notice the heavy winds are haiking -- shaking the camera around. be extra careful as you travel on the eastern shore a windadvisory for the bay bridge. if gusts exceed 55 miles per hour that will close so keep that in mind. as of right now, no delays traveling across route 50. now traveling closer to baltimore, as woo check -- we check in and look at the beltway. traffic is moving but prepare yourself for some slick conditions. it's going to be really rainy out there and as time progresses and hurricane sandy makes its way closer to baltimore, it's going to get pretty nasty out there. that's a look at your abc2 timesaver traffic migan and charley over to you. if you have plans to travel in dc you may want to find another way to get around.

metro officials have canceled all service both on rail and bus. they are expecting high winds and widespread power outages. so far no decision has been made about when the service will berestored and it's canceled tow today but more cancellations are likely into tuesday and wednesday. >> more than 45 agencies are working around the clock in maryland to make sure they areprepared for hurricane sandy. >> this is at mema and governor o'malley will issue an update at 10 a.m. and we will have it at abc2 and abc to 2 news.com. >> we will be right back.

all right thanks for joining us on this monday morning. we are on early this morning and that's because of hurricane sandy. if you looked out your window this morning you may have seen there's rain out there and the question is how much rain are we going to get and when are